AOL Marketing Chief Jolie Hunt to Depart

AOL is parting ways with its chief marketing officer, Jolie Hunt, the company said Monday, a week before it unveils a $10 million branding campaign, according to people familiar with the matter.

Ms. Hunt, who joined AOL in July, becomes the fourth top AOL marketing and communications executive to leave her post this year.

The move comes as AOL leadership, basking in the glow of better-than-expected third quarter earnings, is looking to make a splash – and spend some cash – before the end of the year. The branding campaign that AOL is about to launch, which had been overseen by Ms. Hunt, is AOL’s first since CEO Tim Armstrong took over the company.

Mr. Armstrong, who took over the aging Internet icon in 2009, has promised investors that he would start generating growth in operating income before depreciation and amortization in 2013. The company hit a milestone in the third quarter by reporting flat revenue, after years of revenue declines.

The impetus for the marketing campaign came from Mr. Armstrong in late October, with a deadline for launch of early December. AOL hired McCann Worldgroup to handle the campaign, according to people familiar with the matter. The campaign includes television commercials that Mr. Armstrong wanted to end with dancers dancing around an AOL logo – a move that not everyone involved in the campaign’s creative process agreed with, according to people familiar with the matter. But Mr. Armstrong was committed enough to the idea that he personally attended auditions for the dancers in New York, according to people familiar with the situation.

Mr. Armstrong told AOL executives on Monday that Ms. Hunt’s departure reflects his push to decentralize marketing and push marketing budgets more toward AOL’s individual brands, which include the Huffington Post, TechCrunch and Patch. The company is preparing to begin segmented reporting in its quarterly earnings releases in the fourth quarter.

AOL has had trouble keeping hold of its marketing and communications talent. Ms. Hunt’s predecessor, Maureen Sullivan, moved to oversee the company’s women’s and lifestyle properties in June. Lauren Kapp, senior vice president of global strategy, marketing and communications at Huffington Post, left in July after just three months. Janine Iamunno, the vice president of communications at Patch – and bearer of a Patch tattoo – left in August.

Additionally, Caroline Campbell, vice president of corporate communications at AOL, said in an interview Monday that she had been planning to leave at the end of the year, but agreed to stay through the transition and depart in February.